He Said She Said
by MoreCowbell
Summary: Jun Motomiya plays matchmaker to the two premadonna's of the Digidestined. Mostly Mimato with a tiny bit of Taiora.
1. Foreward

**"He Said, She Said"**  
by Trish (MoreCowbell)

* * *

This is my first attempt at a multi-chapter Digimon fanfiction. The narrator is a wildly OOC Jun. Nobody really likes Jun, so I decided I'd tweek the character a bit (read: a lot) to suit my needs.

Digimon doesn't belong to me.

* * *

_"A man always has two reasons for doing something; a good reason and the real reason."  
-J. Peirpont Morgan_

o. foreward

I honestly don't know how I get myself into these situations. I mean, I'm a nice girl. Do I deserve this? I'd like to think I don't. I donate old clothes to the poor, I rewind the videos I return from Blockbuster... Hell, I even squeeze from the bottom of the  
toothpaste tube for better results. Why does this always happen to me?

I'll tell you why. It's 'cause I'm a stupid marshmallow. A lot of bad things happen in the world, and I try to fix them. No one tells me to fix them, but being as nice as I am, I take the initiative anyway. Do I get a 'thanks'? Do I get a 'congrats'?

Nope. I get a whole lotta' nothin'. Zip. Zilch. Nadda.

And yet, I persist on doing them.

And why is that, you ask?

I told you, I'm a softie!

So I don't get acknowledged for the things I do; so I'm left unappreciated and disregarded. It's all worth it to me, cause when I fix things and they start going right, it makes me feel all nice inside. Nice 'n' toasty. Just like a marshmallow! You get me?

Now, I don't try and solve all problems I see. I've got a life too. Just who the hell do I look like? A saint? I'm just a girl that's too nice for her own good.

But this was one case I couldn't overlook. Try as I might, it kept coming back and smacking me in the face. Over and over. It's like when a picture frame is hanging crooked. It drives you insane, and all you want to do is reach out and straighten it. That's what this was like.

Maybe I'm not as nice as I think... Maybe I'm just obsessive... But whatever my reasons, this was something I had to do, otherwise I'd never be able to move on with my life. I would have to straighten that picture frame...

...I was going to get Ishida Yamato and Tachikawa Mimi together.


	2. Yama-kun

**"He Said, She Said"**  
by Trish (MoreCowbell)

* * *

_"Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it."  
-Harold S. Hulbert_

i. yama-kun

His name was Ishida Yamato (or, as I preferred to call him, Yama-kun), and he was in his first year of highschool at Odaiba. He always seemed to have some glop piling on the top of his head, whether it be gel or pomade, I don't know. But it was one of his defining characteristics. He was one of those guys you'd spot on the street, and you'd just know how important his hair was to him.

Yama-kun had a huge ego. Woo, boy. You don't want to get me started on that. Let's just say, there are blimps with less air than the amount he has stuffed in that head of his.

He had an after school job at the neighborhood arcade\restaurant where I also worked. A teenager's fantasy, right? Getting paid to work at the coolest, funnest place in town. That's what I thought, at least. Yama-kun never could find it in himself to stop bitching for once, and just be grateful.

But that's just the way 'children' are, I suppose.

I remember first meeting that good-for-nothing, whining, little brat.

"Motomiya," the boss had said, "This is Ishida. He'll be workin' here from now on." Then, he turned to Yama-kun, "Ishida, this is Motomiya. She'll be working here for the rest of her life."

Yama-kun smirked, and I glowered. Maeda (my boss) looked smug.

"Well, you two kids have fun, huh?" He said, "And Motomiya, I want you to show him what to do, and how this place operates, understand?"

"B-but, Maeda-san!" I sputtered, "I was thinking of taking today off early! There's a sale at the mall that I absolutely have to be at!"

Both males rolled their eyes (yeah, like they'd ever understand the importance of a sale), "Well you apparently weren't thinking hard enough." Maeda remarked, "By the end of the day, I want Ishida to know this place like the back of his hand."

Maeda walked away, ignoring my desperate pleas.

That left me with Yama-kun.

Granted, I was in a bad mood, so you'll have to forgive me if I didn't absolutely love the boy right away. In fact, I kinda thought he was a turd. It didn't help matters any when he looked at me with a decidedly unimpressed expression on his face.

"Are you supposed to be my superior?" He asked, with a raised eyebrow and an infuriating emphasis on 'you'.

I refrained from strangling him, "More or less. Why, do you have a problem with that 'Ishida-kun'?"

He shrugged, nonchalantly, looking around his new workplace, trying to decide whether or not he liked, "No." A thought came to him, suddenly. "And don't call me 'Ishida-kun', my name is Matt."

"Matt?" I echoed, condescendingly. He didn't seem to notice. "What the hell kinda' gaijin name is 'Matt' anyways?" I asked.

Well he sure noticed that. "It's a nickname, not a gaijin name," He retorted, a-matter-of-factly, "It's short for Yamato."

I couldn't be certain, but the smile on my face probably resembled something like a lit up jack-o-lantern, "'Yamato'? Your name is 'Yamato'? That is SO cute! I knew someone named Yamato in elementary school. He was a real squirrely-lookin' kid. My friends and I always called him Yama-chan before we stole his lunch money." The 'Yama-chan' part was true, but not the lunch money part. I just thought it would make the pet name all the more heinous.

"Well, you sure as hell ain't callin' me Yama-chan!" He bit back, enraged at the very idea of being called by that name.

"Of course not," I replied, "I wouldn't even dream of it." The temperature in the room returned to normal, and he seemed to lower his defenses ever so slightly. "So, shall I begin your training?" I asked. He shrugged and I smiled, "Alright, follow me...  
Yama-kun."

It could have just been my imagination, but I had the sneaking suspicion he was muttering my name with expletives.

* * *

*In Japan and many other Asian countries, the sur name comes before the first name  
*'kun' is a suffix mostly used for boys. You could call someone in a lower or similar status '____-kun'.  
*'Gaijin' is the Japanese word for 'foreigner' or 'outsider'  
*'chan' is a cutesy suffix. You'd use it with children, friends, or significant others. You can also use it condescendingly.


	3. Singing

He Said, She Said  
by Trish ()

* * *

_"H-Hey! You can't park in the middle of the street!"*  
-Ward (Final Fantasy VIII)_

*I know it has nothing to do with the chapter, I just thought it was a funny quote...

Yama-kun hates my singing. He's hated it since the day I first sang with him in the same room, and to this day he still hates it. I don't think it's especially awful sounding. Daisuke's never said a word about it, and he's always finding things to insult me about.

I think he hates it because it can't compare to 'her' singing. But I don't want to get into that right now. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I sound like a cat being run over by a moving van, and the only reason Daisuke hasn't commented on it is because he's tone deaf.

Though I'd like to think it was the former, not the latter...

Late one Thursday night both he and I were working overtime. The place was nearly deserted, but still open. I was there to make extra money (please excuse the gleam in my eye. it tends to happen at the mention of cash). Yamato, I later learned, was there because he wanted to stay as far away from his visiting cousin as possible.

I was sweeping the floors, humming 'Copacabana', when I felt Matt's icy glare settle on me. He'd been giving me evil looks a lot lately -- way more than when we first met -- and I wondered if boys ever had the equivalent to PMS.

"Is there a problem?" I asked, stopping briefly from my sweeping duties.

"You're humming," he said pointedly, his arm resting on his waist. He'd stopped cleaning the tabletops.

"I was." I admitted, not giving him the satisfaction of looking ashamed. I knew that was what was annoying him now, and it was really dumb of him to let me in on that.

"Well it's distracting," He complained.

"Distracting?" I echoed, "You're wiping the tables! That's not exactly a task that requires a lot of thought."

"Well, okay, then it's just really irritating!"

I wanted to break my mop over his head. But in a titanic effort, I resisted. Instead, I let a wicked idea creep inside my brain.

I waited until he started scrubbing the rag against the table again; satisfied that he could now 'concentrate' on cleaning in silence. It was when he least expected it, that I did it...

I started to sing.

Loudly.

"His name was Yama," I used the same 'Copacabana' melody I had been humming earlier, "He was a freshman..."

Matt had stopped his task, and I could see him tense at the mention of his name. He knew where this was going, and if I was lucky, he really wouldn't like it.

"... With lots of pomade in his hair, and an ego up to there-"

"Shut up!" He barked, suddenly.

I tried to stifle a laugh, but the sight of his normally pretty boy face now bright red and screwed up with anger was more than I could bear.

Matt growled and covered his ears with his hands. He started to sing his own song, one I knew was meant just for me.

"My friend's got a girlfriend and he hates that bitch! He tells me everyday..."

I stopped laughing.

He continued singing at the top of his lungs, unbeknownst to him that a group of customers had walked through the door and were giving him weird looks.

"...Well I guess it ain't easy doin' nothin' at all, but hey man, free rides just don't come along, every-"

"Hey Matt..." One of the boys in the group had said, "Are you okay, Dude?" He had big, spikey brown hair that reminded me a little of Daisuke's.

Matt didn't realize that someone was talking to him until the boy laid a hand on his shoulder. He jumped in surprise and turned to see the group behind him; their expressions ranging from disturbed to amused.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, his face flushed with embarrassment. Oh, how I wished I had a camera...

"We came to see you, Matt," a pretty girl said. Her hair was copperish and it curled out slightly at the tips. She was wearing the Odaiba High uniform.

"Yeah," a boy I recognized as Sophomore, Kido Jyou, chimed in, "We're real sorry to ruin your... uh... performance, but we've got some news we thought might interest you."

Matt relaxed and reverted back to 'cool as a cucumber' mode, running his fingers through his blonde hair, as if trying to appear super casual, "Oh? What is it?" No one seemed to have noticed that I was standing right there.

Takaishi Takeru, a 'friend' of my brother's (and I use the term loosely) jumped in excitedly, "Mimi's coming back from America!" He enthused, "Her Father got transferred again and this time it's back here in Tokyo! Aren't you excited?"

Matt blinked in surprise. I could have sworn that a look of distress passed over his eyes. But it was gone so quick I assumed I imagined it.

"Tachikawa, huh? Is that so?" He said in a bored tone. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his disinterested expression seeming totally out of place amongst the excited smiles of his friends.

The mop-headed boy nodded his head, "Isn't that great? We'll be all together, like before."

"Oh yeah," Matt drawled, sarcastically, "I'm looking forward to the hours upon hours of nonstop whining and inane babbling." He shook his head, "As if that Miyako-chick wasn't bad enough?"

His friends looked surprised and uncomfortable, and no one knew quite what to say at first.

"That's mean," Takeru finally said, frowning.

Matt sighed, "Look, I'm sorry you guys. I'm just really tired. Can we talk about this some other time? I just want to finish my shift and go home."

I was tempted to remind Matt that he willingly choose to work late, but thought better of it. It wasn't really my place.

"Alright," the girl in green said, "We'll talk about it later, for sure. Just get some rest, okay?" He nodded to her, and his friends slowly retreated back outside the store.

"What a jerk," the Daisuke-look-a-like muttered under his breath, and I could tell by Matt's heavy sigh that he had heard him.

* * *

*The original opening lines from Copacabana: 'Her name was Lola/she was a showgirl/With yellow feathers in her hair/and a dress cut down to there'. Sorry for mangling your song, Manilow.  
by myself (that's why it's so dumb)  
*The song Matt sings is "Why Don't You Get a Job?" by Offspring


	4. Gossip

**He Said, She Said**  
by Trish

* * *

_Rei: "If Usagi was here, she'd agree with me."  
Michiru: "Oh? You and Usagi must be really close, like Haruka and me."  
Rei: "Uh... don't put us together like that..."  
-Sailor Stars_

"Now, just between me and you," Asahina Yuko leaned forward on the counter, bring her voice down to a whisper, "I think he's been cheating on her ever since Valentine's Day."

"You really think so?" I said, feigning interest. Yuko had a way of making everyone's life a little bit more complicated than it actually was.

"I do," she replied, her face serious, "And I think someone 'ought to tell her. She's wasting her time with him."

I humored her with a smile, "Let's just wait and see what happens, okay? He might not even be cheating." The look she gave me said that she didn't think that was even a possibility.

"Hey, Motomiya!" A voice called from across the arcade. "Stop yapping and get to work!"

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that HE was MY superior, and not the other way around. He'd been especially crabby ever since his friends paid that visit last Thursday. And who was I to oppose him? If he was this ornery when I was complacent, he'd probably rip my head off with his bare hands if I actually tried to pull rank.

"She's a customer, numb nuts!" I shouted back. Okay, I'd let him tell me what to do, but I'd be damned if I'd give him my respect while I was at it.

He grumbled something inaudible under his breath, and returned to his work (whatever that was).

"Ooh," Yuko crooned, "Is that Ishida Yamato?" I nodded stiffly, my growing agitation making Yuko's chatter less and less tolerable by the second. "He's in a killer band, you know. His best friend is Yagami Taichi. You know him, right?" She continued blabbering before I could respond, "He's the captain of the soccer team, and his younger sister is Yagami Hikari. Both your brother and Yamato's brother are toootally crazy about Hikari..."

I tried to drone out the sound of her voice. I was already well aware of the love triangle my brother was in, and I could care less... Okay, well, maybe I cared a little. I didn't want to see Daisuke get hurt, no matter how annoying he was.

'How does Yuko know all this?' I wondered. 'She probably has no personal life of her own, that's why she's constantly sticking her nose in other people's business.'

I was too preoccupied with thoughts of killing Yamato to really listen to her. What was his problem anyway? He'd always been a jerk, but lately he'd been getting upset over everything... The change machine was jammed? Meltdown! Some kid puked on the flight simulator game? Rage blackout! Ever since his friends told him about that Mimi person moving back from America, it was like he'd gone all Incredible Hulk on me.

"Hey Yuko," I interrupted her, mid-ramble, "Do you know anything about a 'Mimi'?"

"Um..." She looked deep in thought, "Tachikawa Mimi?"

Was that her name? I had forgotten. But there couldn't be that many 'Mimi's' in the Odaiba prefecture to begin with, so I guessed that it was her.

"Well she used to be best friends with Takenouchi Sora, who is a childhood friend of Yagami Taichi and Ishida Yamato. About three or two years ago she moved to America with her family, because her father's job transferred him there."

"Anything significant about her?"

"She was the Odaiba Junior High Princess. She wore a lot of pink, and I think almost all the boys liked her. She was a cheerleader, you know? Guys always fall for the short skirt and the big-"

"Do you think Yama-kun liked her?" I interrupted. It would make sense. Why else would he be so moody about her coming back? Maybe she broke his heart when she told him he was moving.

Yuko was giving me a sly look, "Why do you wanna' know, Jun-chan? Are you interested in him? He's a little young for you, don't you think?"

"Shut up, Yuko," I muttered, "I'm just concerned."

"Concerned that Tachikawa Mimi might steal your 'Yama-kun' away from you?" She giggled, "Well if you were going for a young one, I could see why you'd go for him. Cute AND in a band!"

"I don't like him that way!" I protested, "I don't even know if I like him at all! I just don't especially like seeing people upset over relationships and stuff... And I work with Yamato. When he's mad, guess who he takes it out on?"

Yuko sighed, "Alright, alright... Spoil my day, why don't you? If you did like him, that would have been some juicy gossip I'd have acquired."

I gave her an annoyed look, "Just tell me whether he liked her or not."

She clicked her tongue and rested her chin on her knuckles (her patented 'musing' stance), "Well... From what I heard, Yamato was kind of a loner. He mainly kept to himself, but a lot of girls had a crush on him... He's never had a girlfriend," Yuko giggled, "Isn't that cute?"

"Sickeningly." I replied, smiling tightly.

"There have been no rumors about Ishida Yamato ever liking Tachikawa Mimi or vice versa. But a lot of people thought Mimi would go great with Taichi, because she's a cheerleader and he's a jock. But a very reliable source has told me that Takenouchi Sora, Mimi's best friend, has liked Yagami Taichi since they were kids."

'So, he's never liked her...' I frowned, disappointed. I thought that if I knew the reason behind Yamato's frustration, I could help him work through it, he could be happy (or his equivilant of happy) again, and then I would no longer have to work in fear.

"Well, thanks Yuko-chan..." I said, drumming my fingers against the counter top, engrossed in my thoughts.

I had a weird feeling that I, Motomiya Jun would be scheming by the end of the week.

* * *

*Asahina Yuko is a character from a dating sim game called "Tokimeki Memorial". I just needed a name. There is no resemblance to the actual character.


	5. Pink Haired Girls

**He Said, She Said**  
by Trish

* * *

_"I'm not asking you to say anything. I just want you to listen."  
-Quistis (Final Fantasy VIII)_

iv. pink haired girls

Matt hadn't come to work for three days straight. Maeda let him get away with it only because he worked overtime so often. But since Matt was gone, Maeda had me do all the things he usually did when he was here.

Understandably, I grew to... Not quite hate him, exactly... But I was beginning to fantasize about assorted heavy objects falling from the sky and smashing him into the pavement. His friends came by more often. They asked me questions about him; assuming that since we worked together I would have some special insight. I didn't really know what to tell them. I was tempted to confide my 'Matt-loving-Mimi' suspicions, but since they were all just hunches right now, I decided it would probably be better not to put weird ideas in their heads.

Then, on Wednesday, a girl I'd never seen before showed up at the arcade\restaurant. I'm pretty familiar with all the kids in the area, but this girl's face was new.

She had pink hair, which was definitely the kind of thing you would remember seeing, even in this day and age. The girl was exceptionally pretty and had amber eyes and a warm smile. She craned her head this way and that as soon as she entered through the sliding doors, clearly looking for someone. Either that, or she was trying to find the new Bloody Rage IV arcade machine (in which case, she was going to have to wait until it arrived next week).

"Can I help you?" I asked.

The girl was startled and shook her head, "No, no... I'm just looking for someone. He works here." She seemed extremely nervous, "You'd probably know him, uh... Ishida Yamato?"

I laughed, sardonically, "Oh sure, I know him."

The bitterness wasn't lost on her, "O-oh... Are you his... ex-girlfriend?"

I didn't know whether to laugh or be sick. Who asks a question like that? "No. Oh God no... He just works most of the same shifts that I do." I couldn't help but tease her when I saw the obvious relief on her face, "Why? Are YOU one of his ex-girlfriends?"

She blushed furiously, shaking her head, "Oh, no! No, I'm just... I'm a friend, and I'm concerned for him. There was this party he was supposed to be at and he never showed..." She trailed off, "Sorry," she apologized, "I know you weren't asking or anything..."

"It's no problem," I insisted, "If something's wrong with Yamato I'd like to help if I could."

She stared at me for a long time, as if trying to figure out something. I think she was determining whether or not I was a threat to her and her feelings for Matt (whatever they might be). "Well, I don't know myself." She said, finally, "I suspect that we're no  
longer friends, though." Her eyes cast downwards, and I suddenly felt a rush of sympathy for this girl I didn't know.

I mean, ouch! It would be just like Yama-kun to do... To brush off a girl so obviously in love with him.

"Oh, sorry," she said, bowing slightly, "I've been rude. I'm Tachikawa Mimi." She held out a hand for me to shake, but at the time all I could do was stare at it.

So this was the infamous Tachikawa Mimi?


	6. Pictures

**He Said She Said**  
by Trish ()

* * *

_"It only hurts when it is love."  
-Trey Lorenz _

v. pictures

'Boys are such idiots'.

That was pretty much the only thought going through my head as I sat across from Tachikawa Mimi, listening to old stories about her childhood with Yama-kun.

It was unfathomable to me how Matt could not like her. She was so... Nice. And she seemed to think a lot of him. A lot more than he deserved, anyway.

We were sitting in a booth, talking. She hadn't felt comfortable doing so, at first. After all, she had just met me. But it didn't take very long for the two of us to find a connection. Pretty soon, we were laughing and joking like we were old friends.

And then I asked her about Matt and the mirth faded away.

"Oh, I don't know," she shrugged, stirring her straw in her milkshake, "I've known him since we were both eleven. Even at that age he was very mature and serious," she smiled, sadly, "But he was always so kind. I really admired him."

"Kind?" I laughed, "Are we talking about the same person?"

"I didn't use to think that way about him either," she continued, "He and Tai were always fighting over their stupid pride... And he could never admit to caring about a person. But it's only because he's been hurt so many times by his parents. He's afraid to let people in."

"Yeah?" I was being just as nosy as Yuko, but I didn't care. At least I actually knew the person whose privacy I was trying to violate. "What happened with his parents?"

"They divorced when he was very young. They split him and his brother up," she sighed, "It's so sad. TK is the most important person to him."

I instantly felt bad for Yamato. As annoying as Daisuke is, I would never be able to stand it if someone took him away from me. We argue a lot, but he's my brother, for God's sakes.

"Were you and Matt close?" It was odd that she knew all this about him. He didn't seem like the type of person to tell others his personal problems. And given the way he'd been brushing Mimi off, she was probably the last person he'd confide in. Well, maybe not the LAST person. That would probably be me.

"Oh, no," she shook her head, "Not at all. We barely spoke. But our group was close. There were no secrets between us. We knew about all the divorces, and adoptions, and close-calls with death... That's why I was hurt, but not surprised, that he didn't show up at the airport when I left for America."

"How long ago was that?"

"Three years, two months, and a day," she said, not missing a beat. I couldn't imagine being so distraught over someone that you'd remember the last time that they'd hurt you.

"And you haven't been back since?"

"Once or twice," she replied, fidgeting nervously; almost like she was keeping a secret, "But those were very short visits."

"Yama's a jerk," I said, crossing my arms over my chest, "There was a chance you two could never have seen each other ever again, and he didn't even show up to say goodbye."

"I tried not to let it bother me," Mimi took a sip from her drink, "I told myself he probably had something better to do... But he never once called or e-mailed in those three years. I kept in touch with everyone else, but not Matt. I wrote him a few times. He never wrote back."

"Oh..." I patted her arm in an effort to cheer her up. She looked so sad, "You poor thing! You really seem to like him."

She looked like a deer caught in the headlighs, "N-no!" She insisted, "He's just a friend."

A boy would have believed her. But boys are idiots. There was a tiny possibility that a really, really dumb girl would have believed her. But it wasn't likely. Girls know girls.

"Oh, come on, Mimi-chan. Don't try to sell me that 'he's just a friend' crap," I told her, "You and I both know that's not true. Now let me hear you say it."

"Wha..." She looked down at her milkshake, her cheeks on fire, "I don't know what you're talking about."

I didn't say anything else. I just gave her a stern glare.

"Okay, okay," she let out a sigh, "I might have... 'feelings' for him. Not that it matters. He obviously hates me."

My look softened, "Why would he hate you?"

"I don't know," she rested her chin on the palm of her hand, "Because I'm stupid and vain. And air headed. There are lots of reasons."

Her milkshake was on the house... Because I didn't know what to say, and I felt bad about it. I wanted to do something for her. We didn't talk about Matt anymore. What else could be said? It was better not to drag the conversation out, when the subject obviously made her feel bad. Somehow, we started to talk about pictures.

Girls like pictures, you know. We both cracked out our wallets and looked at all the frozen memories. A lot of hers were from school dances. I also saw some of the copper haired girl from the other day. Her name was Sora and she was Mimi's best friend, I remember Yuko telling me. I filed that thought under 'future reference' in my head. I recognized some of the other people in her pictures. They were the ones who'd come by that Thursday to inform Matt of her upcoming return. After flipping through a few more pictures I found one of my brother and his new friends. Whoa. Wait. Mimi knew my brother? I'd have to ask Daisuke about it later.

No pictures of Yamato, I noticed. Well, there was a group picture he was in with some other kids. He was standing right next Mimi. No surprise, he was frowning. His hair was spikier and he had his arms crossed over his chest. Everyone else in the picture was grinning these really cheesy, Colgate smiles.

"Ooh, this is a nice picture!"

"Huh?" I looked up from Matt's scowling mug to see Mimi waving my graduation picture at me. My friend, Shiori, convinced me to straighten my hair for the picture. It came to about shoulder-length and framed my face, "You think so?"

"Yeah. Can I have one?"

"Sure, if I can get one of you!"

See, I TOLD you girls like pictures. Mimi gave me one that she had done at a studio. She modeled a little bit in America and had to have professional shots taken.

At about 5 o'clock, she told me she had to leave. She had initially only planned to stay long enough to confront Yamato, but he wasn't coming in any time soon.

"It was nice meeting you, Jun-chan," she bowed, "I'll visit you again soon, okay?"

"Sure thing! Bye, Mimi-chan!"

+

Matt had started working again. He wasn't any more or any less grumpy. He didn't talk as much, though. And he worked a lot harder. He was putting all his concentration on small, menial tasks... Like he was trying to avoid thinking about something. Or someone. Or maybe that's just how I chose to see it.

Mimi and I talked on the phone a few times. She said she'd lost her nerve. She couldn't go see him. She didn't want to see him. If he wanted to hate her, it was his right to do so. At least, that's what she claimed. But Mimi purposely visited me on the days she knew he wasn't going to be there.

So basically they both avoided each other. It was avoidance². And it bothered me. Mimi was nice. Matt has the ability to be nice (so so she claimed). Mimi started being mopey and depressed. Matt continued to be detached and cold.

I couldn't stand it. I wanted to fix this. I didn't know what Matt's beef with Mimi was. Okay, so she wasn't exactly Einstein... And she was quite fond of her own appearance. But it wasn't like HE was any better! Mimi was MUCH more likable then Matt could ever be.

At least, I thought so. Matt never let me in. He never showed me just how likable he could be.

To this day, I'm still not sure what did it. Maybe it was something he said. Maybe it was something Mimi had said about him. I started to really care about him. To worry about what happened to him. It was no longer just about me having to work his shifts. It was more than that. I really wanted to see him happy.

I started to be nicer to him at work. Greeted him, asked him how he was doing, helped him out when he was busy. I still ribbed him from time to time and made sarcastic comments, but all in good nature. When he was rude or cold, I held my tongue, because I knew it was just a part of his defense mechanism.

Yamato responded to my change in behavior. At first he seemed suspicious; like I was playing mind games with him. But he must have realized I was serious, because he eased up on the insults and the sneering. Sometimes a rogue 'dumbass' would still slip out, but he seemed to be making a genuine effort to get along with me.

More than ever I wanted to see him happy. Him and Mimi. They had both become so important to me. As a friend, as an older sister-type. I wasn't sure which. It didn't really matter. I just knew I couldn't stand to see them both so miserable.

Plans started to devise in my mind. Plans of the matchmaking-variety. But I tried to suppress them. I shouldn't interfere, I told myself. If they were meant to be, then fate will push them in the right direction.

But no matter how many times I tried to ignore these plans, they kept popping into my head.

It took one small incident for me to allow these plans to formulate into the more refined schemes.

It was a really busy day at the arcade. Matt was cashiering and ran out of change. Since I was waitressing in the cafe, I shouldn't have cared. It was his responsibility to make sure there was enough change in the register before his shift started. But he wouldn't stop whining about it, so I told him he could take the change from my wallet, which I'd left in the shelf under the register.

Which he did. But it wasn't the only thing he took.

That day I had somehow, 'mysteriously', lost my picture of Mimi.

* * *

  
*I made Mimi a year older than she was on the show.  
*Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. There's a reason for Matt's dislike of Mimi.


	7. Jun's Plan

**He Said She Said**  
by Trish

* * *

_"Oh Mickey, what a pity, you don't understand  
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand..."  
-"Mickey" (Toni Basil)_

The quote has nothing to do with the chapter. I just happen to think "Mickey" is a cute song. ^_^ Anyway, I would have written this a long time ago but when I was mapping out the parts, I confused myself. Buuut, I'm sure you don't care. Please review!! It makes me happy!

* * *

vi. jun's plan (for lack of a better title)

Okay, so it probably wasn't the *best* plan in the world. It wasn't even a *decent* plan. But it was a plan, and the only one I could think of at that.

This was the situation as I knew it: Subject A, Ishida Yamato, grew up in the same social circle as Subject B, Tachikawa Mimi. The number of conversations between subject A (the most depressing teenager imaginable) and subject B (the trendiest teenager imaginable) were few and far between. Eventually, Subject B (who held obvious attraction to the former) was relocated to America. Upon news of Subject B's return, Subject A became cold and disrespectful (moreso). Subject A is also noted to have a stealing problem.

I came up with the plan on a Monday night. I was actually supposed to be getting started on my English homework, but English is evil, and I had the entire week or so to finish it, so I worked at my leisure.

But like I was saying, I was sitting at my desk. The lamp was on. I was tapping my pencil against my blank sheet of binder paper. Several thoughts came to me.

One. How come the eraser on your pencil always runs out so quickly?

Two. Twelve years ago, when I was in Kindergarten, I had a difficult time writing creative stories. Flash forward to twelve years in the future, and I still have that problem. What gives?

Three. "Jun" rhymes with "Moon".

A wave of inspiration hit me all of a sudden. Not because of that Jun/Moon thing. I don't know *how* it happened, but it did. I leaned over my desk and started to write. My pencil moved over the paper, quickly. I knew if I stopped to think for even a second, I would forget my ideas.

Minutes later, I surveyed the text before me.

'This is the story of two people who were in love but didn't know it. They had low self-esteem and severe fear of rejection. They didn't want to admit their love. The boy treated the girl harshly. The girl pretended like she didn't care. But they were both so miserable. The charade was not to last, however, because their love was too strong. All they needed was to see each other and get their facts straightened out.'

And here's where the plan came in. As I reread the story, I began to realize how damn *familiar* it sounded.

The last line stood out. "All they needed was to see each other and get their facts straightened".

And that's how I came up with my "full-proof" plan.

+

3:46pm.

Matt came to work at 3:30, on the dot. Well, okay. Not really. I just think 'on the dot' sounds cool. It gives you the illusion that I had this whole thing synchronized. He didn't usually work the Tuesday shift, and neither did I, but I had convinced Saori and Takeshi (the usual Tuesday\Sunday people) to trade with us.

Matt knew nothing of this.

I also called Mimi the night before, complaining of a boy crisis. She wanted to talk to me about it then, bit I insisted that Tuesday at the Arcade would be a better time. She was so concerned, she didn't question it.

The instructions I gave her were: 'Show up at 3:30!' Given Mimi's history with tardiness, I was sure that would give me at *least* fifthteen or so minutes to prep for her arrival.

Business was slow. It usually was at 3:00-4:00. Kids had choir and sports and other extra curricular activities to take care of. 4:00 was when the action started. Hopefully my plan would would be successful before 4:00. I didn't want Matt ditching work to go make out with his new girlfriend when business reached it's peak.

"Hey Yama-kun?"

He looked over at me. We were both sitting at an empty table, waiting for the clock to read 4:00. Or at least, *Matt* was.

3:51.

Mimi was *awfully* late. She didn't have any extra curricular activities since she started school in the middle of the semester, and pretty much all the fun clubs were filled up by this point. So just where the *hell* was she?

"Yeah, Motomiya?" he replied.

"Would you mind waiting tables today?" I asked him.

His face scrunched up in annoyance, "Yes, I would mind," he replied, "I don't like waiting tables."

I sighed. Why did the boy have to be so *difficult* about everything? "Well who *does*? Just do it for me today, would you?"

His eyebrow arched in suspicion, "Why today of all days? Is something happening?"

I had to shove my hand in my pocket to keep from smacking him, "No. I just have this really *painful* sore on my foot. I didn't discover it until this morning. It's all red and swollen--"

"Okay, okay!" he cut me off, looking disgusted, "Spare me the details! I'll wait the freakin' tables!"

"Thanks Yama-kun!" I smiled brightly, and started to make my way over to the register. I wasn't sure if Matt was watching me or not, so I made a big production of limping over.

3:55.

The door jingled open. No, the door didn't jingle. You see, there are these bells attached to the door. It's actually a pretty clever idea. Everytime someone enters... Uh... Nevermind. You probably already know what I'm talking about.

I looked over at the door. Pink hair and Odaiba school uniform. Mimi had finally showed up. She was so mad when she found out she was confined to wearing the same outfit day in and day out for the rest of her highschool experience. She had gone to a public school in America and got to wear whatever she wanted.

"T-tachikawa?" That would be Matt, having risen from his seat, gawking at her.

"Y-yamato?" She stuttered back his name, looking confused and surprised but definitely not happy.

That's *funny*. In my story, the girl and the boy ran to each other and started kissing like it was going out of style. But Matt and Mimi were just looking at each other.

No one said anything.

It was awkward. So much so, that *I* was tempted to say something. But I didn't.

Matt's eyes narrowed, slightly, "What the *hell* are you doing here?" And of course, he had to have asked it in the snottiest voice possible.

"W-w-well I..." She was already starting to tear a little bit.

"You know Mimi, I would *really* appreciate it if you stayed as far away from me as possible," he said before storming over to the backroom and slamming the door behind him.

Crown Restaurant and Arcade was nearly empty. *Nearly*. There was still an audience, however. They kept darting their eyes between the door that led to Matt's personal moping-closet and Mimi who was trying as hard as she could not to cry.

"I... I..." She croaked the next words out, but had a difficult time doing so. Hell, I couldn't blame her. After having the guy you like publically reject you, I wouldn't know what to say either. She finally settled on, "I have to go!!", before she burst into a fit of sobs and ran out the door.

The jingling of bells punctuated her exit.

"Mimi!!" the copper haired girl followed her out, looking concerned.

Huh. That didn't go very well. How come everything is so much nicer in your head? Where was the kissing and the happiness?

Since Sora went to comfort Mimi, that left me to beat the hell out of Matt.

+

"What was *that*?"

He wasn't crying. I suspected Ishida Yamato thought he was too good for tears. He was just sitting on a chair (there aren't many things you can do on a chair), his arms folded over his chest, looking pissed.

And hurt.

"You tell me," he bit back, "Did you plan that?"

I would have been embarrassed if I weren't so angry. And who even knows who I was angry at? At Matt, at myself, at everyone. All I wanted to do was help two people out.

Didn't Matt know how great happiness felt? Why was he trying so hard to fight it?

"Why do you hate her so much?" I didn't bother answering his question. He already knew that I was the mastermind behind their 'accidental' meeting.

Matt looked away, but I was so upset that I grabbed his face and jerked it back in my direction.

"Why do you hate her?" I repeated, more firmly this time.

He stared at me and I stared back at him. Our eyes locked. It was the first time I ever got a really good look at them. They were blue, and they reminded me of the sea. Not because they were pretty or whatever else any of his fan girls might say... But because they were cold and deep and restless.

Seconds passed.

He pulled his face free from my grasp.

"I don't hate her," he mumbled quietly, burying his face in to his hands, "I couldn't hate her."

Something about the tone of his voice made the hard look on my face soften. I sat in the chair next to him, "Matt..." I had never called him 'Matt' before.

"God, I don't even know what comes over me when I'm around her or when people are talking about her," he wasn't crying. By the sound of his voice, he was right on the verge of it, "I just feel so stupid and inadequate. You know... Like... Like there's something about me that's not good enough for her because she--"

"Matt, stop, please."

I hugged him. It was weird. I didn't feel comfortable hugging him, but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. He didn't even react to it.

"Matt, what are you talking about?"

There was a silence. I could hear his heavy breathing. He was trying to collect his thoughts.

"I think I'm in love with her."

"Matt?" It didn't sound like something Matt would say. But then again, I couldn't really claim that I knew him all that well.

"I wrote her this letter, you know..." he was ignoring me completely, just talking for the sake of talking, "I was only eleven years old. She was moving away and even though I didn't know her very well, I didn't want her to. I wanted her to stay with me. I wanted her to be mine. So I wrote her this letter and I told her to meet me. But she never showed," he shook his head, "She never showed. She just left. Today was the first time I've talked to her since."

I hugged him. It wasn't all that uncomfortable anymore.

He'd finally let himself cry.

* * *

  
*I was only half paying attention when I wrote this. -_- It got waaaay too dramatic at the end. Hah, hah...  
*All you Sailor Moon fans might recognize the "Crown Arcade". That's where Motoki works! And Unazuki works at "Crown Fruit Parlor". Jun and Matt work at a place that's like a combination of them both.  
*There's gonna be some Taiora later on. Sorry, Taiora h8rs!


	8. He Said This...

**Said She Said**  
by Trish

* * *

_"What are you doing?"  
"What are *yoooou* doing?"  
-Those preppies from the Budweiser commercials, ^_^_

Urk. This took a long time to get out. o_O I'm sure only two of you noticed. Well I was having creativity problems. When I first started writing this chapter, I had something waaay different planned. But I decided to just start from scratch, 'cause that other junk didn't seem to fit well with the previous chapter. So, um, yeah.

This chapter ("He Said This...") is dedicated to Danielle (Jaded Angel)!! Hi Danielle!! Hee, hee. I'd also like to give a shout out (LULZ) to Asuka, Deni, and K-chan (I'm interested in your contest!)!

So sorry minna-san for the long, long delay of this, and if you want to see the next part out soon, I can be bribed with reviews.

* * *

vii. He Said This...

"Guys are jerks."

"Yeah, I hear you on that, sister."

The setting was Mimi's bedroom (which, by the way, looked like it was single handedly keeping the Sanrio company in business). Mimi, Sora, and I were shoving spoonfuls of icecream down our throats and having a traditional guy-bashing session.

I'd gone over to the Tachikawa Mansion right after school, so I was still in my God-awful green uniform. Sora was in her tennis gear, because she had a game at five. But until then, she'd spend every moment she could with her BFF (best friend forever, duh).

"Oh man, I'm gonna have stomach pains later," Sora realized, staring disdainfully at her bucket of Chunky Monkey. After about a second or two, she shrugged and continued shoveling more of it in her mouth.

"This is all Matt's fault," I said, waving my spoon in the air for added effect. Of course I didn't believe that, but it's customary in guy-bashing sessions to not have anything positive to say about the opposing gender.

"It *is*," Sora agreed, and even though she had no clue what the hell was going on (not that anyone else did, Mimi and Matt included), she instinctively took her bestfriend's side first.

The host of our bitter-party shook her pink head, "Oh, who *cares*?" she was going through candy bars and pints of icecream at a phenomenal rate, "*I* don't care! I'm so over that tired, little Matt-saga. That was so... So five minutes ago."

"Oh yeah?" the tomboy arched an eyebrow, "Then why were you absent from school today?"

"I was sick," she insisted.

She did look sick. Before Sora and I had crammed her full of sugar, she'd been staggering around the house in her Badtz Maru PJ's (apparently the moody black penguin reflected her disposition) and a bathrobe. An entire box of tissues were stuffed in the pocket of her bathrobe (don't ask me how she was able to get it to fit) and her eyes were puffy and bloodshot.

"Mimi, if you wanna talk about..." I suggested.

"What's there to talk about?" She snapped, defensively, "Matt humiliated me in front of thousands of people," she rushed on with her rant before I could inform her that instead of 'thousands of people', there were really only six or seven, "I cried over it for a little while, and now I'm perfectly fine!" To emphasize her point, she stuck another spoonful of 'Caramel-Fudge-Almond-Whatever' in her mouth and chewed on it angrily.

"... Okay," Sora edged away, discreetly. She'd, apparently, seen Mimi when she was angry before, and it wasn't a good thing.

"But I agree with you on that guys are inhumane, evil bastards who should be vaporized by the dozen," Mimi said.

"That's not quite what I said..."

"Oh no," the so-called 'convalescent' shook her head, "Don't try to sugar coat it. Guys are scum, plain and simple. I think I'm gonna become a lesbian or something. Where do I sign up for that?"

"Oh, I dunno," I rolled my eyes. That girl could be such a drama queen, "I'll go find you a pamphlet or something."

"Mimi, you know you're only saying these things because you're sad," Sora put a comforting arm around her best friend's shoulder, "Deep down you know you love Matt and you know you're not attracted to other females in a sexual way."

Mimi glared at her, "I don't love Matt and that lesbian thing was a joke."

"Oh right!" Sora laughed, embarrassed, "I knew that."

Even though I had only known Sora for about an hour and a half, there was something very likable about her. She always looked out for other people, and it wasn't out of obligation. She *liked* comforting her friends, and she *liked* that people knew they could depend on her. She could be a worthy addition to my evil schemes... That is, if I continued them.

I was surprised that Mimi wasn't angry for what I had done. It was my fault Matt had humiliated her the other day. Oh, sure, he could have been a little nicer about the entire thing, but he'd been taken by surprise.

"Hey Mims," Sora began, "We're best friends. How come you didn't tell me anything about you and him?" the tone of her voice was clearly hurt. Hell, I knew more than she did, and I'd *just* met Mimi.

"I was embarrassed," Mimi turned the color of her hair, "I mean... Me and Matt? No way that'd ever happen. He's too serious and mature for me. He doesn't even wanna be my friend, much less my boyfriend. I just thought that if I didn't tell anyone, then it would go away."

"I know how you feel," the athletic girl smiled, sadly, "I used to have a crush on Matt too."

"Really?" Gentle, tea-colored eyes widened.

"Yeah," she laughed, "I thought what I felt was love, but then later I realized the only reason I was drawn to him was because he was so fatherly to Takeru, and I had subconsciously thought maybe he could make up for my own father's absence."

I felt sort of excluded as Mimi and Sora had this 'Oprah-worthy-revelation'. They were best friends, after all, and they had a history. They knew each other's secrets. I was just... Some girl sitting there holding a pint of slowly-melting icecream, not knowing what to say.

After they did the hugging and the crying thing they broke away and looked at me, slightly embarrased.

"Well, I'm not gonna say that I ever had a thing for Matt, so you can just forget it," I joked, trying to pretend like my feelings hadn't been hurt. But I understood that they needed some bestfriend time.

After that emotional Lifetime-esque moment, we decided we needed to get love and all that mushy stuff out of our minds. Sora and I started making fun of Mimi's room and she made rude comments about other people's clothing and social life.

"... I swear, she's the biggest ho under the sun," Mimi said with a perfectly straight face. It almost amused me how casually she could make remarks like those.

"Jesus, how much did it cost for you to decorate this room?" I asked. Aside from the dozens and dozens of stuffed animals, and stationary, and posters, she also had a Sanrio curling iron, a Sanrio vacuum (which she probably never used), a Sanrio keyboard cleaning kit, and a... Sanrio waffle maker?

"Careful with the Sanrio upholstery solution!" she warned, "I think the top is coming loose!"

Oh, God... *This* was how girls stayed virgins. They brought boy a up to their room, and he'd be too nervous to perform in front of an audience of Hello Kitty, Spotty Dottie, and Keroppi.

"Hey, what's this?" a framed newspaper scrap caught my eye. It was hidden somewhere in her bookshelf (all the books were in pristine condition and collecting dust, while the mangas were worn and torn and looked like they'd been read over a million times).

The newspaper article had a picture of a little girl wearing an adorable cowboy ensemble. "'Tachikawa Mimi wins the Miss Odaiba Talent Competition'," I read the headline.

"Oh my God!" Mimi suddenly shrieked, then ran over to grab the frame from my hands, "Don't look at that!"

Sora burst out laughing, "God, you still have that, Mimi?"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Mimi's mom made her compete in this beauty contest-"

"*Talent competition*!" Mimi corrected, obviously wanting to be celebrated more as a talented girl, than a beautiful girl.

"Whatever," the tomboy rolled her eyes, "Anyways, Mimi won and her mom was so proud she had the newspaper clipping announcing her victory laminated and framed. She used to hang it in the living room above the fireplace and show it to everyone who came over."

"Sora, shut up!"

"Hey Mims, what was your talent?" I asked, hoping it wasn't the ability to  
balance a book on her head or something equally stupid. I mean, how *sad*  
would that make the other contestants if they lost to *that*?

"Singing," the pink haired girl said, proudly.

Singing?! Gah, Mimi was nice and all, but her speaking voice was not always as pleasant as she was. I couldn't fathom her belting out tunes in front of a large audience and them actually enjoying it.

"Yeah, I was surprised too," Sora said, sensing my disbelief, "But she *can* really sing."

"Aww, thanks, Sora!"

"I wish I could hear you sing," I said. If it was as good as Sora was boasting, then I was more than happy to hear it, "We should go sing karaoke one of these days."

"Nuh uh, no way," Mimi shook her head, "I haven't sung a single note in years. I'm all out of practice."

Sora was about to argue with her, when a 'beep' sounded from her watch.

"Yikes," she made a face, "I'm gonna be late for my tennis game. Sorry I gotta bail on you so quick, Mims."

"Nah, it's no problem," she waved it off, "I'm just glad that you came over today to cheer me up. And I'm glad we got to talk. It's been a while since we've had a bestfriend convo."

"I know what you mean." They shared their 'we'll be friends until we're old, old ladies' look, before Sora hefted her gym bag over one shoulder, "Let's do this again, sometime. The three of us. It was cool meeting you, Jun!" After picking up her jean jacket from the floor of Mimi's pink carpeted room, she bounded out the door, still yelling goodbyes over her shoulder.

We sat there for two full minutes before Mimi said anything.

"You want something to eat?"

I looked down at my now-melted chocolate icecream. Just looking at it was making my stomach churn in disgust, "No... I'm okay. I'm kinda thirsty, though."

"How about a chocolate shake!" Mimi suggested, her disposition brightening, "I'm really good at making deserts and stuff. I started learning in America last year."

"Mimi, I don't think I'll have anything remotely chocolate for at least another month," I said, flopping down on my back, "How about just a water?"

"Water? Okay, I'll be right back!" Mimi bounced off of her bed and out of the room and down the stairs to wherever her kitchen happened to be in that gigantic house.

Mimi's good at singing, huh? Matt can sing. I should hope so, at least. He's the lead singer of his band. That would be cute if they sang a duet... Gah, where did *that* thought come from? But, c'mon. It *would* be cute. The stage lights would be shining on them and they would be looking into each other's eyes as melodies of love came out of their mouths (and most importantly, their hearts)...

... Was this the beginning of a plan?

"Okay, okay, here's your water!" Mimi entered the room again with a tall glass of water, dressed with a lemon slice on the mouth rim and an umbrella.

"Wow... You really went all out, huh?" I commented.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I like being a host."

Since I was an oh-so smart highschool senior and Mimi was a Freshman, she asked me if I could help her with her Algebra. Algebra. God, do you know how much I *hate* Algebra? If there were ever a more disgusting subject, I for one haven't encountered it. I guess Geometry's pretty bad... All those proofs. Yuck...

I am awful at Math, but I was too proud to admit that to her. I might have understood it three years ago, but that was then and this is now.

"So tell me about trinomials," Mimi requested.

Oh God... I was stuck... "Why don't you tell me what you know about them first?" How long was I gonna try to avoid the subject and how long was it gonna work?

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing!" she groaned in despair and pushed her Algebra binder off her bed. Papers scattered everywhere.

Paper...

A memory triggered in my head. Paper. Letters. Matt's letter to Mimi. Oh right! I had forgotten about that. The letter was the reason for all this. It was the reason Mimi had lost her sparkle and Matt had gone anti-smiling. It was the reason I spent so much time focusing on the love lives of two fourteen year olds and the reason why Sora was going to get a stomach ache from playing tennis after eating two pints of ice cream.

The letter.

Apparently Matt had written her this long, mushy, emotional letter, and she hadn't responded positively. Scratch that, she hadn't responded at all. She didn't meet him where he asked, she didn't call to tell him she couldn't show up, and she didn't write him a letter telling him he didn't feel the same way.

It was a cruel thing to do, to leave him hanging, and I didn't believe for a second that that was what sunshine-y Mimi Tachikawa had done. No, she was too nice for that. Too sweet. She cared a lot about other people's feelings. And besides, she'd been pretty hot on him too.

So what the hell happened? How could the perfect opportunity to fall in love have gotten so messed up?

"Hey Mimi?"

She looked up from the pillow she had buried her face into, "Hmm?"

"I've got a question."

"Well I've got an answer. Let's see if they match up."

I gave her a weird look, "What?"

She shrugged her still-pajama-clad shoulders, "I dunno. Don't ask. I got that from a movie."

"Right. Anyways," I continued, "I got this love letter from this guy, and I totally don't feel the same way about him. He's asking me to meet him somewhere. You think I should go, or should I call him and tell him that this is unrequited?"

"You got a love letter!" she squealed in excitement, "Ooh, let me see!"

Mimi could be a huge airhead, but there's no way she could have missed how familiar this scenario sounded... Unless it wasn't familiar, because she had never known it had happened.

"Um... I don't have it with me. I left it in my locker," I lied.

"Oh..." her face looked crestfallen, "Well... Um... I think you should definitely meet the guy wherever he asked you. Even if you are just going to let him down, it shows him you care about him platonically if you at least make the effort to go all the way there."

"Is that what you would do?" I asked, studying her expression carefully.

"Of course!"

I knew she wasn't lying. I'd only known her for a little while, but I was sure of it. She didn't seem to be the type that lied.

"Do you love Matt?" I asked suddenly.

She looked shocked. How could we have gotten from my love letter to her feelings about the perma-depressed one?

"Jun I don't see what-"

"Do you love him?" I interrupted.

Silence. She looked confused. She didn't know why I was asking her. Maybe she didn't know what to say. She just stared at me for a long moment before finally nodding her head, "Yes I do."

And like before, I knew she was telling the truth.

"Well don't ask me to tell you how I know, but he loves you too. Just... Don't give up on him, okay? And take every opportunity you can to be with him."

"Jun..." She said my name, her eyes filled with question.

"Trust me?" I pleaded.

She nodded, and I smiled. I knew everything was going to be okay.

* * *

**NOTES:**  
*Um... That was not an ending. I just didn't know what else to include. So I just cut it off right there. I messed up the title of this chapter/the series. Originally Jun was gonna tell Mimi all these lies about how Matt was dying without her love, blah, blah. But I couldn't swing it. o_O Next chapter, I'll try to make right with the "she said" part. Or not. I don't know.  
*The 'biggest ho under the sun' is a quote from my childhood bestfriend, Teri. Oh, how I miss her vulgarity. ^^  
*I dunno if they sell a Sanrio vacuum or upholstery solution, but they DO sell a Hello Kitty waffle maker. I bought one for a friend, and they make the cutest little waffles ever.  
*Hello Kitty, Spotty Dottie, Badtz Maru, and Keroppi are all characters from Sanrio.  
*I'm pretty sure the 'question/answer' thing is from James Bond.  
*Chunky Monkey is TM Ben & Jerry's. Holla!


	9. ... And She Said That

**He Said She Said**  
by Trish

* * *

  
_Cop: "I don't know why you claim to be Sigmund Freud."  
Sigmund Freud: "Why do you claim I'm not Sigmund Freud?"  
Cop: "Why do you keep asking me these questions?"  
Sigmund Freud: "Tell me about your mother."  
-Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_

This took hella long for me to get out!! Da-YAM! Sorry for anybody who was waiting for this. I don't understand you, but I'm sorry I let ya' down! =)  
Also, a special 'hey' to Danielle (can't wait to read something new of yours!) and K-chan (I'm working on that Daimi!).  
The next part will be kinda' long, but I'll work on getting it out ASAP if you participate in K-chan's coolioso contest!!

* * *

  
viii. ... And She Said That

I didn't like Higashi Kaori in highschool. I can't say that I 'hated' her, because 'hate' is a strong word, and people tend to use it more freely then they 'ought to. I just... really, really disliked her.

But she was the most popular senior at Odaiba High, and whether I liked it or not, I had to pretend like she was the best thing since sliced bread.

Looking back, I guess I should have given her a chance. I mean, no one *really* seemed to like her, and she would have been a dimwit not to have noticed. But it's really hard trying to be nice to someone who is not as nice to you.

"Jun-chan, that was some story you read us in English class," she said, her chin resting on the palm of her hand as she flipped through a beauty magazine. I wasn't sure whether she was insulting me or not. She was just vague like that...

"Um... You think so?" I replied, not knowing what else I could say.

"It was so depressing I wanted to hang myself," she continued, still turning the pages, rapidly. She was probably one of those girls who only looked at the pretty pictures.

She was referring to the creative writing assignment I had awhile back. Originally it had started out mirroring Mimi and Matt's sad relationship. I went back and changed the whole thing after he'd publicly humiliated her. It had evolved from a cute, fluffy little romance into this... This morbid, scary, everyone-has-a-drug-problem saga. I wouldn't have made it that way had I any idea we were going to be reading them out loud in class. After a full minute of 'what the hell was that!?' the class hesitantly gave me the obligatory applause.

"Well, we can't all write about a unicorn marrying a pegasus," I muttered, under my breath.

Her eyes snapped up from her magazine, abruptly, "What was that?" she demanded.

"Nothing," I insisted, sheepishly.

"I *thought* so," and again, she turned her attention back to the magazine, totally ignoring my existence.

I waited two minutes.

"Kaori-chan?" I prompted.

"What?"

"Are you *ever* gonna order?"

"Oh right!" she laughed her airhead little laugh and asked me to bring her a salad with low-fat ranch dressing and a glass of diet iced tea.

"Right away," I plastered the 'happy-to-serve-you-waitress-smile' and walked to the kitchen to put her order in. The smile slid off my face the second she couldn't see me. It had taken her ten minutes to order, and she'd engaged me in mindless chit chat so I couldn't leave to help anyone else.

"Hey Jun-chan."

Inoue Naomi was sitting near the kitchen. She was having a Triple Fudge Sundae.

"Naomi-chan!" I smiled, "You need anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine,"

"Well," I sighed, sliding on to the stool next to hers, "Can you pretend you need something so I don't have to go back to serving that unbelievable bitch over there?"

She looked over to where Kaori was and started laughing, "She can't be that bad."

"Trust me," I said, "She can."

Naomi just shrugged her shoulders. She'd never had the misfortune of hearing Miss Higashi whine. She couldn't feel my pain.

"You wanna do something once your shift's over?" she asked, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, only to have them slide down again.

"If you're willing to wait until ten o' clock, sure, why not?" I grinned, almost sure I knew what her answer was going to be.

"Ten o' clock!? Holy Jesus, isn't that violating child labor laws or something?" After sufficiently freaking out (as was the Inoue way), she looked at me expectantly. Naomi's questions were never rhetorical.

"I'm working the late shift," I explained.

"Sucks to be you," she murmured.

"At least I'm getting money," I teased her, "90% of your paycheck goes towards room and board, and the other 10% is for meals."

She let out an exaggerated sigh of depression, "That's what ya' get for working at your parent's convenience store. I knew I shoulda' taken this job before you did."

"It's not that great. You gotta' suffer through obnoxious customers, endless walking..."

There was a crash in the distance. Naomi and I both looked up to see Yamato standing with an empty tray in his arms. Loads of broken dishes lay at his feet. He stood there for a couple seconds, blinking slowly. When he finally broke out of his daze, he bent over to clean up the mess.

"... Not to mention angst-ridden teeny boppers," I groaned.

"Motomiya! Here's the order!" The chef called from the kitchen window.

I hopped off the stool and collected the tray, "I'll be back in a couple of seconds, okay, Naomi-chan?"

"'Kay."

+ + +

A couple of seconds turned out to be a couple of minutes. After giving Kaori her order, she made me sit with her while she babbled endlessly about how people liked her only because she was so gorgeous, and not because she was such a nice, generous, giving person.

About halfway through her one-sided conversation, I had successfully mastered the art of 'I-only-LOOK-like-I'm-paying-attention-but-I'm-really-not'.

"... So what do you think?"

But you can never get away with it.

"What do I think?" I repeated, probably sounding like a complete moron.

"About the ski get-away!" She sounded like my ignorance was exhausting to her. And I was just about to make it worse because I really had no idea what she was talking about.

"I'm sorry?" I ventured, hoping she wouldn't explode with rage.

"The ski get-away I'm inviting you on the week before Christmas?"

"Oh yeah! Duh, I knew that," I lied. Ski get-away? This was the first time I heard anything about it. Although it sounded like a lot of fun. Kaori wasn't the *greatest* company, but she rubbed elbows with a lot of important people in the Odaiba Highschool scene.

Oh right. Here it goes. 'Jun is *such* a user'. I'm sure you're all thinking that right now. But nobody's perfect! Of course I was going to be looking out for my social status.

"Sounds great!" My smile was enthusiastic, and it seemed to be contagious, because she smiled too.

"*FAB*ulous!" She squealed.

Things seemed to be looking up. Ski-get away? Luck was on my side...

... Only, it wasn't. Haw, haw. I jinxed myself. Right after the conversation, I waddled over to Naomi to tell her the good news. Only, she didn't think it was as great as I did.

"You can't go!" she said, angrily.

"What? Why not?"

"You said you'd go to the 'Teenage Wolves' concert with me!"

Teenage Wolves? Who the hell were the Teenage Wo-

... Oh.

Yamato's band.

Dillema. I'd promised Naomi I'd go to the next 'Teenage Wolves' concert back before I had met Yamato. I'd never even heard of them. But a promise was a promise. Also, I had a whole not-quite-formulated plan buzzing around in my head involving Mimi, Matt, and that concert. If I didn't go, it probably wouldn't execute correctly, which would mess things up between them more.

But... But ski get-away! Popular kids! Fun! Good times!

"I'll get back to you on that, okay Naomi?" I said.

She looked indignant, and rightfully so, "Whatever Jun. I can't believe you. You don't even like Kaori, but you'd spend an entire weekend with her just to 'up' your social status."

"Naomi-chan, wait-"

But it was useless. She left Crown in a huff.

+ + +

9:48pm.

'Crown' had long since closed, and Matt and I had been cleaning and closing up. Or... At least, that's what I had been doing.

Matt alternated between staring off into space and and furrowing his eyebrows together in what appeared to be concentration. But concentration for what?

Ever since That Day, he'd just been stumbling around like a dumbass. No anger. No harsh words. He was like a whole different person. More... Reflective. I didn't think he was proud of what he did, but at the same time, I didn't think he'd take it back if he had the chance.

By 9:52pm the entire place was sparkly-clean. Well... Not *really*. But as clean as it was getting, and since there was no way for Maeda to know whether or not we'd left at ten on the dot, we could just make a break for it as soon as the job got done.

Matt held the door open for me as we left Crown and stepped into the coolness of the night. Little known fact, Matt holds the door open for girls and pulls out their chairs for them. When I first found out, I was suprised. He didn't seem like that kind of guy. He seemed more the type to let the door slam in your face.

I let out a deep breath, giving the streets of Odaiba a quick once over. It was a pretty quiet night, aside from the rustling of dead, stiff leaves and the occasional howl of the wind. The streets were nearly deserted and the only sources of light were the moon and the faintly glowing streetlight.

Seventeen or not, I didn't feel safe wandering the streets at night. Sure, it was Odaiba. The only thing you really had to worry about was the unexplained monster sightings. But you could never be too sure.

"Walk me home?" I implored to Matt, and he, with his hands shoved into the pockets of his faded denim jacket, shrugged (his equivilant to 'yes').

And so we walked in complete silence. He was doing more of that staring/contemplating, and I was trying to think up just the right thing to say to him, because I *did* have something to say. I just wanted to make sure I didn't screw up. If I did, I was almost sure he would leave me alone in the streets.

Before long, we came to the bridge overlooking the Odaiba river. It looked absolutely gorgeous illuminated in the silvery-white moonlight. The ripples of the water and the shining of the stars made it look even more picturesque. I almost forgot there was a boy with me and that there was something I needed to say to him.

"Can we stop here? I wanna talk to you." He looked ready to object, but I continued before he could, "It's about Mimi."

A look of pain spread across his face, and I could almost see the walls he built around himself go up. But he didn't say anything. He wanted to hear this. There was something about Mimi he was waiting to hear, and he was willing to shut up, just in case I was the one who was going to tell him.

"She loves you," I told him.

He scoffed.

"It's true." I couldn't see why he found it so hard to believe that. Almost every fourteen year old girl in Odaiba wanted him.

"She doesn't love me," he shook his head, a bitter tone creeping into his voice, "She *couldn't*. No one I've ever loved has ever been mine..." And the bitterness turned into sadness, "My parents... My brother..."

"Yamato..."

But he cut me off, "You don't understand, Jun!" He was angry again, "She broke my heart! I was just a kid. She was the first person I was willing to let in... And she just..." His anger was raw and palpable. He'd had a short temper the entire time that I knew him, but I had never seen him like this, "She just blew me off!"

I started to doubt whether it really was a good idea for me to try to set them up. If Matt could still be so angry and bitter at this years later, then did he really feel all the things I assumed he did? Love is forgiveness. It's not obsessing over something someone did to you however many years ago. Not that Mimi was even consciously aware she'd hurt him. She didn't know about the letter. Through some freak accident or another, she'd never gotten it.

"Yamato... She does love you. She told me so herself." Okay. So that was a lie. But I was testing something, and it required a little bit of lying, "She's sorry about what she did, and she wants to make up for it." More lies. But I had to know if his feelings were real.

"Goddamnit, Jun," He slammed his fist against the metal railing of the bridge, "That's not good enough!"

My heart fell. I knew where this was going. I knew what it would lead to. He didn't really love her. He was still intent on blaming her. It wasn't love he felt for her, otherwise he'd forgive and forget. It was obsession. It was... a fixation.

She was wrong. Mimi was wrong when she said those things about him. That he was a nice guy. That he cared about other people. That he was someone you could respect...

"So what?" Tears started to blur my vision, and my voice started to waver. Oh, Mimi, what have I done? "You want to see her hurt? You wanna make her feel the same pain you did?"

His posture straightened. There was a look in his eyes... A look that was hard to decipher, but it was important that it was there. There was still hope left.

"Matt..." I hoped this would work, "If you ever want to be with her... If you really love Mimi... You'll let this go."

Silence.

The water was rushing below us. The foliage was scattering across the cement.

"I do." he finally said, "I love her. And I would never do anything to hurt her again." There was conviction in his voice.

"Then let it go," I implored, softly.

Another silence, but shorter than before. Matt's eyes were screwed tight and he was breathing softly. Puffs of air escaped his lips. "...Alright." he said.

I believed him, but I still wanted to make sure, "Do you really mean that?"

"I don't ever want to see her cry again," he said, wringing his hands in front of him. He was staring into the water, not at me, "It makes me want to die."

We stood there, trying to let what had just been exchanged, settle. My heart felt light. Things were gonna be okay. There was just one thing I had to clear up, first.

"For what it's worth," I began, "She never got your letter." Matt looked at me, sharply, his eyes full of question. I continued before he interrupted me, "She never knew you needed her... Otherwise... She would have been there for you."

* * *

  
*Not the best chapter, I know, but I wanted to stop putting it off.  
*I don't know the names of any of Miyako's siblings, so I just named the one who's friends with Jun, "Naomi".  
*I know the first part of this was totally boring because it had nothing to do with Mimi or Matt, but it was important that I showed you that Jun has a life too. =)  
*I wrote pretty much all the dialogue during Trig class (after an evil test). I'm surprised I didn't include math terms in this. ^_^  
*For the next chapter, I'm gonna need extreme audience participation!! If you can think of two songs that would somewhat describe the Matt/Mimi relationship, please send them to me (by e-mail or just leave them in a review). Thanks in advance!


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